BY CARLA WALDEMAR
Giordano’s
2700 Hennepin Ave. S.
612-444-3143
Take-away orders: www.orders/giordanos/com
“Is the Pope in town?” I wondered, trying to make my way down South Hennepin through crowds of the devout. Well, sort of. Blame the traffic hazard on Giordano’s, the Holy See of stuffed pizza. The new Uptown outpost is an offshoot of the Vatican of deep dish in Chicago, launched there in the ’70s and winning awards ever since. The new Minneapolis site is rumored to have diminished many a Delta booking.
Me, I covet the doggie-carton account. It would also be profitable (if illegal) to sell those take-home slices to the mob standing patiently in line that week. Once seated, plan on close to another hour for the prized deep dish to emerge from the oven.
Is it worth it? You decide.
Our party was unimpressed with the thick, tasteless and oomph-free double crust that dominates the venture, which wouldn’t fly in Italy (nor at the Green Mill a block away). It works fine, however, as a photo op, when presented like a saintly relic on its table stand. We’d ordered the Chicago Classic (medium size: eight slices, $28.50), loaded with thinly-slivered, peppy pepperoni; a handful of nicely chewy, beyond-button mushrooms; and tangles of onions and green peppers amid generous tomato sauce that proved sweet but one-note; and enough stretchy mozzarella (yum) to formulate a weaving project. Still …
We’d staved our hunger with a pair of salads, nicely composed and snappy with crisp (but not over-chilled in the walk-in) greens: a basic Caesar dressed with garlic croutons and drifts of shaved cheeses, and the harvest salad. This one showcases sweet slivers of juicy pears in partnership with sweet bits of dried fruits (apricots, blueberries, etc.), sweet candied walnuts and savory blue cheese crumbles, all lightly spritzed with a red-wine vinaigrette ($6 starter size). Lovely.
Dessert is offered, if you’re up to it (we were not, alas): three-bite cannoli and tiramisu, a heftier slice of chocolate cake a la mode, or s’mores pizza (Isn’t there a law against that? Well, maybe not. After all, I did taste a mac-and-cheese-topped pizza at Lunds the other day.) Adult beverages, too—I gladly sipped a Surly.
I returned over a lunch hour to see what Giordano’s also-famous Southside Italian beef sandwich was all about. (It’s part of a noontime promo offering a choice of 10 sandwiches, pizzas and pastas along with soup or salad and beverage for $10.) And my answer was, not much. The beef arrived on an entrancingly-chewy toasted roll—thinly-sliced but thin, too, on flavor (unless you count the shake of salt, which seems to be the favored cooking spice). It’s served with a cup of beef dipping jus and choice of sweet peppers or (my vote) crisp and spicy giardiniera.
The room is inviting—good people-watching both in and through the streetside window, with booths and tables set against a mural of downtown Minneapolis. But ordering options are less than Minnesota Nice: One cannot place your order ahead by phone nor put it in while standing in line, nor—oh, I forget what else not to do, but they were firm in informing us at the time.
